Book of Hosea
From Christianity Knowledge Base
| Old Testament and Tanakh |
Jewish, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox
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Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox
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Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox
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Russian and Oriental Orthodox
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| Oriental Orthodox |
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| Books of Nevi'im |
| First Prophets |
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| 1. Book of Joshua |
| 2. Book of Judges |
| 3. Books of Samuel |
| 4. Books of Kings |
| Later Prophets |
| 5. Book of Isaiah |
| 6. Book of Jeremiah |
| 7. Book of Ezekiel |
| 8. Minor prophets |
[edit] Chapters
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
[edit] General information
Hosea prophesied in a dark and melancholy period of Israel's history, the period of the Northern Kingdom's decline and fall in the 8th century BCE. The sins of the people, their priests and their rulers had brought upon them great national disasters. Their various sins (homicide, fornication, perjury, theft, idolatry, impiety and others) are mentioned and criticized. An interpolated list of kings made Hosea into a contemporary of Isaiah.
The book may be divided into two parts, the first containing chapters 1-3, and symbolically representing the idolatry of Israel under imagery borrowed from the matrimonial relation; Hosea marries a prostitute, as the Lord said, "The people in this land have acted like prostitutes and abandoned the Lord."
The figures of marriage and adultery are common in the Old Testament writings to represent the spiritual relations between God and the people of Israel. Here we see the apostasy of Israel and their punishment, with their future repentance, forgiveness, and restoration.
The second part, containing 4-14, is a summary of Hosea's discourses, filled with denunciations, threatenings, exhortations, promises, and revelations of mercy.
| This page uses content from Theopedia, which favors a Calvinistic/Reform POV. The original article was at Book of Hosea. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with the Christianity Knowledge Base, the text of Theopedia is under CC-BY-SA. |
